I know some people in this thread find the feature "gross", but I found it really cool lol. The whole thing in general. I'm a male Indian, so it was fun playing with the filter and seeing me as female, white, black, Asian, etc. Shame they took the ethnicity filter down.

Looking at when the filters got taken down, it looks like I was about one of the last people who got to see it working. I took my earlier "International Squirrel Brothers" picture and did some extra processing on it within the app. It holds up surprisingly well.

Original (Latino):

Indian:

Asian:

African:

European:

The thing that I keep seeing in these faces isn't just my own face, but also the fact that each of them, in the hypothetical alternate reality where they're real people, are very different people to me, have different backgrounds, different histories, different challenges and different goals. The way they see the world is different to me, even though for all intents and purposes they are me.

I can't even imagine what life would be like for Asian female me, the kinds of pressures she is (and isn't under). Would European male me have the same kind of job I do? Would African female me be even the slightest bit interested in video games? Does Indian male me have a good home life? I just don't know.

This is why I find the technology fascinating. It offers me a window into a world that doesn't exist, but is just plausible enough that it forces me to think about things from other people's point of view. I think it's a shame people's misuse of the app led to it being taken down, though I understand why it was necessary.

Speaking of racial empathy, it was the first thing on my mind while using it. If a computer can see that we're basically all the same jumble of features and various skin colors, why can't we eventually see past them as well?

that app is seriously incredible. asian you looks like a real person. in fact, they all do.

that app is seriously incredible. asian you looks like a real person. in fact, they all do.

When it stays the same sex the results can be pretty insane at times. It legitimately looks like it's just a photo of another person, not a crude photoshop, or just someone adding fake glasses. I think this is in part what makes many feel "uncomfortable" at first, as they can still recognise themselves, but they look convincingly like someone else. Occasionally what gives the male to female, or female to male filters away is what it does with hair. More so when it tries to make long hair short, or short hair long. Hair needs improvements.

Due to how well the app/tech does things, it probably could be the grounds for a genuine scientific study to see if seeing yourself as a different gender/race, but still being able to somewhat recognise yourself in the picture, impacts bias on feelings on different sex/race(s).

I'm not qualified yet, but it's seriously an interesting proposal to explore for anyone in the psychological fields/scientific fields. It'll have been tested before in other ways (racial/gender bias), but this technology could be new grounds for controlled experimentation. I honestly don't think it's a stretch to say very small social consequences could come from literally millions of people putting photos of themselves into an app that shows them looking normal as other races/sex. However, that is what would need to be tested on a large scale and in a controlled environment. I'd honestly put a bet on this being done, if not soon, not too far into the future.

Looking at when the filters got taken down, it looks like I was about one of the last people who got to see it working. I took my earlier "International Squirrel Brothers" picture and did some extra processing on it within the app. It holds up surprisingly well.

The thing that I keep seeing in these faces isn't just my own face, but also the fact that each of them, in the hypothetical alternate reality where they're real people, are very different people to me, have different backgrounds, different histories, different challenges and different goals. The way they see the world is different to me, even though for all intents and purposes they are me.

I can't even imagine what life would be like for Asian female me, the kinds of pressures she is (and isn't under). Would European male me have the same kind of job I do? Would African female me be even the slightest bit interested in video games? Does Indian male me have a good home life? I just don't know.

This is why I find the technology fascinating. It offers me a window into a world that doesn't exist, but is just plausible enough that it forces me to think about things from other people's point of view. I think it's a shame people's misuse of the app led to it being taken down, though I understand why it was necessary.

still fascinated by this app. I want it back. It totally shows me the world in a new way. I'm legit in awe of some of this tech.